CaptainKitten
by BuzzCat
Summary: Steve is catsitting for Natasha when things go slightly awry. A chance encounter with one Darcy Lewis results in a saved kitten and a trending hashtag.


Steve taped the last poster to the light pole. The black and white picture depicted a curious kitten, the word "LOST" emblazoned across the top of the page.

"What's its name?" asked a voice behind him. Steve turned and saw a woman standing there, a knitted hat fitted snugly on her head and an iPhone clutched in her hand.

"Budapest."

"Like the city?"

"Yeah. It's not mine." says Steve.

"Cat-sitting for a friend?"

"Yep."

"And you lost it." It's said as a statement rather than a question. Steve can't quite meet the woman's eyes,

"Yeah."

"On a scale of 1-10, how deep of shit are you in?'

"11." Budapest was Nat's cat. She had asked Steve to keep an eye on it for one week. He'd done it before. Just one week. Second day in, and he had showed up to feed it to find he'd accidentally left a window open and the cat was gone. Natasha was going to kill him. Clint would probably help, since he'd given her the cat.

"Fair enough," The woman pushed the phone into her pocket, "I'm Darcy. Want some help looking?"

"Steve. And yes please." Darcy extended her hand and he shook it. Darcy squinted at him,

"Do I know you?" she said. Steve's eyes flashed to the giant Captain America billboard directly behind her, advertising the opening of a new exhibit. He shrugged,

"Nah. Just have one of those faces." Darcy nodded, but it was clear she still didn't believe him. She shrugged,

"Alright, first things first. Where did you lose it?"

"At her house. Window left open."

"Ah. Is it normally an outdoors cat?"

"No."

"Alright, so it probably didn't venture far from home. What block would it be on?"

"Three blocks up from here."

"Alright. How far did you look?"

"Three blocks on each side." said Steve. He got the distinct feeling that this was not the first time Darcy had tried to find a cat. Darcy nodded,

"Good. We're going to cover that again. Lead on." she said. Steve turned and started walking up the street, Darcy at his shoulder. They had only gone a few steps before he said,

"Thank you for helping me."

"No problem."

"Are you sure I'm not keeping you from something?"

"Nah. I was avoiding a friend of mine anyway. This is just a good excuse for not showing up."

"Well, I'm glad I could be of service."

"Me too." said Darcy. They laughed. Just then, the light sprinkling of rain that had been threatening all day broke. As one, the New Yorkers around them raised black umbrellas. Steve just raised his jacket over his head. Darcy ducked her head and resigned herself to a bad hair day and damp wool. Steve nudged her with his arm,

"It's dry over here." He said from beneath his jacket. Darcy didn't need to be told twice. The rain was starting to come down harder and when it came to a ready-made excuse to press herself up against that body, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She huddled beneath the upheld jacket and the two of them raced to the nearest open door, which happened to be the corner 7-11. The bell jingled as they stepped in, joining the rest of the rainy day shoppers. Steve put his jacket back on and Darcy turned to watch the rain. It was just strong enough to discourage leaving, so she walked over to the counter and got herself a slurpee. Steve followed her over, his brow furrowing as he observed the way the not-soda poured into the cup. Darcy paid for it and only then noticed Steve watching her,

"What?" she asked after taking a big gulp from it, "I was thirsty."

"What is it?" he asked. Darcy's eyes bugged and she almost coughed on her slurpee,

"What do you mean, 'what is it?' It's a Slurpee. A Slushee. A wondrous concoction of soda and ice. Haven't you ever had one?"

"Never." said Steve, though now that he knew what it was, it sounded delicious. Darcy held out her drink to him,

"Try it."

Steve was about to refuse, but then she gave him the look Steve had come to be wary of that all women seemed to have and he desisted. He took a sip. The flavor spread through his mouth and Steve swallowed it down, stepping back,

"That's...wow!"

"Yeah! I'm telling you, man, it's some great shit."

"That's a lot of flavors for it to come in." he said, gesturing at the variety of slushee machines. Darcy looked them over,

"Yeah. But some are better than others."

"Is this one your favorite?" Steve asked, swiping the slushee from Darcy's hand and taking another sip. She shrugged,

"Yeah. Dr. Pepper is always a pretty good bet. The Hawaiian Punch one is also freakishly good."

"I believe it." said Steve. Darcy stepped closer to Steve, leaving the drink in his hand but pulling the straw end to her mouth. Steve watched, amused, as she drank and then stepped back to her original position. She caught his gaze and smirked back but said nothing. Then Darcy's eyes fell past him, to something outside, and she sighed,

"Oh, poor baby!" Steve turned and couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

It was Budapest, sitting on the window ledge, soaking wet and looking as pitiful as possible. Before Steve could take a step, Darcy was out the door and coaxing the animal to her. It didn't take a lot of coaxing. Budapest easily let himself be picked up and cuddled into Darcy's coat. She brought him inside and Steve could hear her cooing to the kitten,

"It's okay, baby. We're going to get you nice and warm and then Steve is going to take you back to your apartment and give you the biggest bowl of food you've ever laid eyes on." she said. Darcy came to a stop in front of Steve, attention still entirely devoted to the ginger kitten in her arms. Suddenly Darcy grinned, "He's purring!" Sure enough, the cat who wouldn't come to Steve for three days and still mistrusted him deeply, was purring in Darcy's arms and rubbing its head against any part of her it could reach. Steve grabbed a punch of napkins and stepped forward, gingerly taking the cat from Darcy, hoping against hope it wouldn't run away. Budapest watched him warily but complied with being rubbed dry as best they could. Darcy kept up a steady stream of crooning the entire time. Soon Steve was holding a mostly-dry Budapest and Darcy held up a hand as if to stop him,

"This is totally going on Twitter. Smile!" Steve looked up and grinned. And he felt it. He felt not the Captain America grin he'd been smiling for so long it hurt, but a genuine smile, the kind that were rare since waking up in a new world. _Funny,_ he thought. Of all the things that would make him feel slightly more like Steve and less like Captain America, it was saving a kitten with a beautiful dame. He heard Darcy's camera snap the picture and she tapped her fingers quickly across the screen. Steve looked down at the kitten and the kitten looked up at him. Somehow, he had a feeling the cat knew exactly what he had just thought. If only because it was Nat's cat and he had no doubt that it wasn't exactly as it appeared. Darcy put her phone back in her pocket,

"Well, I guess we're done here. I'm glad you found Budapest. Good thing he wasn't in Hungary." she said. Steve laughed and Darcy joined in, grabbing her slushee from the counter where Steve had set it down and starting to make her way out. The rain had lessened and it was only when Darcy had her hand on the handle that Steve stepped forward, at her shoulder in two strides,

"Wait," he dug in his pocket and pulled out a pen. He grabbed a napkin and quickly scribbled down his number, "in case you need help finishing a slushee." he said. Darcy grinned and grabbed another napkin and pulled the pen from Steve's hand, scratching her own number into the stiff paper. She handed it to Steve,

"In case you need help hunting down another cat." Steve grinned and tucked the napkin into his pocket. Budapest watched the exchange threw sleepy eyes. Darcy waved, "Bye Steve. Bye Budapest." She stepped back out in the rain and walked down the street. Steve smiled and watched her until she was out of sight. Then, his phone dinged. It was Natasha, texting: "Check twitter." Steve's brow furrowed, then he laughed when he opened the page.

#CaptainKitten was trending.


End file.
